Assassination Attempt in Jerusalem as White House Escalates Tensions

Sheik Khatib of the Islamic Movement in Israel has been threatening the Jewish state on official Palestinian Authority television stating that Jerusalem will not only be “the capital of the Palestinian state,” but the capital of a “righteous Islamic caliphate” that will “encompass the Earth.” [See and hear clip here at: http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/4568.htm ]

Furthermore, with the assassination attempt on the life of a Jewish leader this week, American-born Rabbi Yehuda Glick, Israel decided to take the unusual step of temporarily closing the Temple Mount in the interests of security. Only on Friday, for Muslim Friday prayers, has the Temple Mount been partially reopened.

Rabbi Glick is well-known in Israel for having dedicated his life to securing not only the right of Jewish people to pray on the Temple Mount, this most sacred of sites to Jews everywhere, but has worked to secure the religious freedom of all people of all faiths to worship at this most holy site.

Shot at close range three or four times by Islamic Jihad terrorist Mutaz Hijazi, according to witness Moriah Halamish as reported in http://www.jewishpress.com, Rabbi Glick was standing at the entrance of the Menachem Begin Heritage Center, when he was approached by a man and asked, in Hebrew with an Arabic accent, if he was Rabbi Yehudah Glick. When Glick responded in the affirmative, the man said to Glick, “You have insulted me very deeply” and fired his gun. Watching as Glick fell to the ground, he then drove away on his motorcycle. The terrorist has since been tracked down by Israeli police counter-terror units and reportedly killed in a shootout.

To-date, only Muslims have been allowed to pray on the Temple Mount. Non-Muslim visitors are banned from praying there and face arrest if suspected of doing so.

An Arab Muslim serving in the Israeli Knesset, MK Ahmed Tibi from the United Arab List Party, told Israel’s Channel 2 in an interview broadcast on Friday night, October 31st that “the Jews have no right to pray at the site of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, [Temple Mount].”

Built on Mount Zion were two (2) great Hebrew/Jewish Temples the first of which was built by King David’s son, Solomon, King of the United Kingdom of Israel and Judea and is said to have housed the Ark of the Covenant, it is here, in the Temple Mount complex, where the Al-Aqsa Mosque sits today.

Regarding Israel’s temporary closure of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, a spokesman for the Muslim Arab Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, as reported on Al Jazeera, October 30th has been to condemn the closure as “a declaration of war on the Palestinian people.”

Hizballah, the Party of God, another terrorist organization, has also condemned Israel’s move and has announced that it will protect the Al-Aqsa Mosque, according to Al-Manar TV.

Team Obama has further deepened the developing crisis in Israel by cursing Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu and insulting their Defense Minister, Moshe Ya’alon. The Defense Minister was denied meetings at both the State Department and the White House during his recent visit to Washington in October. Administration officials then leaked the humiliation to the press. Such actions by senior officials only serve to embolden Muslim violence against the Jewish state.

As Israel strengthens its military forces and intelligence resources to combat Islamic terrorism, Strategic Solutions reminds President Obama that the U.S. needs Israel. It is a leader among nations in the fight on the front lines against Islamic terrorists.